"[A]n ominous silence pressed in on the room as the fever penetrated deeper." ---p.204
Fever, as it revealed by the name, makes some despair of the hopelessness and confusion, while makes some other stronger and mature than before. That's exactly the way how the little girl,Matilda in the story, got through the pandemic illness.
I found somehow this book worthy of reading for it educates youths to endure the uncertainity and grieving moment of mortal life. Inevitably, there are times when death separates beloved ones and us. There are times as well, when we hang up about the uncertainty of future, of destiny, and of death frankly.
As depicted in the storyline, people were too afraid of death to keep victims of yellow fever, nor even dare to contact anyone that seemly looked like a victim. Such incidence reminds me of the days I had in Taitung, when serving as a volunteer helping for the August 8th flood. I coughed then, but not because of any infectious disease, SARS. It was just my throat broken for yelling at those naughty children. Unfortunately, my hospitality and devotion were treated as dust, for people suspect me as a monster, bring diseases, illness, death to them. Just like the way mentioned in the book, I was mocked, threaten, and almost kicked out of the bus on my way home. Thanks for the depiction of this book that relieved my feeling a little bit.
After all, disease casts off people's belief of immortality. But I like the saying: "when the frost comes, the fever will vanish, for everything there is a season, remember?"
Quotations:
"The sound came straight from my heart, as sharp as the point of a sword."---p.147 by Laurie Anderson
"A whisper of wind passed by from the north. It lifted the hair off my face and rattled the squash vines. I shivered."---p.147 by Laurie Anderson
"The entire yard sparkled with diamonds of frost that quickly melted into millions of drops of water with a gentle kiss of the sun."---p.147 by Laurie Anderson
"I held my breath and waited for the earth to stop spinning. The sun need not rise again. There was no reason for the rivers to flow. Bird would never sing."---p.147 by Laurie Anderson
"We were trapped in a night without end."---p.207 by Laurie Anderson
